Heady Times at the Bakery

Morphine Produced in Brain

Last year, several researchers finally found the evidence they needed to support the theory that morphine occurs naturally in the human brain. Meinhart Zenk and his colleagues at Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg in Germany found that human cells grown in a dish produced morphine. Therefore, Zenk concluded:

"Without doubt, human cells can produce the alkaloid morphine."

In the past, many scientists were skeptical about this claim, believing that the samples that were studied were contaminated with morphine molecules. However, the new evidence showed that morphine could indeed occur in the human brain. This presents new possibilities for doctors who are treating patients with a need for morphine. Instead of just giving the patient morphine, doctors could give them a morphine precursor (a molecule that would set off a chain reaction ending with increased morphine production in the brain). This new approach could be very helpful because it can decrease patients' dependency. The discovery could also help explain why some patients do get addicted to morphine: a morphine deficiency.

Wired News: Morphine Apparently in your Head

posted by Amanda @ 7:21 PM